


only for you (and me)

by starlight_sugar



Series: The General Specific [14]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Professors, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 05:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6691105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlight_sugar/pseuds/starlight_sugar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To: Barb (10:43 PM)<br/>He said yes</p><p>From: Barb (10:44 PM)<br/>well of course he said yes</p><p>From: Barb (10:44 PM)<br/>WAIT DID YOU PROPOSE</p><p>(Or: Jon looks back. More importantly, he moves forward.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	only for you (and me)

**Author's Note:**

> Rooster Teeth does not have my permission to use any portion of my work in their content.
> 
> If you haven't listened to the actual song [The General Specific](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuRpADKxesQ) by now, I'd recommend it. It's a good song.

Jon is in the middle of retying his tie for the seventh time when Barb walks in, takes one look at him, and says, “Oh my god, relax.”

“I’m perfectly relaxed,” Jon says, hoping she doesn’t notice that his tie looks like shit and he’s been running his hands through his hair all day.

She steps forward and smooths his hair down. “Do you need a brush or something?”

“I need vodka,” he says as grimly as possible.

“Absolutely not. C’mon, you do your tie and I’ll fix your hair.” Barb pops open her purse, pulls out a comb, and gets to work. “I don’t have a straightener, but I’m sure Meg or Ashley could track one down if you needed it.”

“I don’t need a hair straightener, I need vodka,” Jon says, but he undoes his tie. His hands feel a lot steadier now. “How is it out there?”

“Everyone showed up, they’re all sitting down, and the music player is working fine, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“We have a music player?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I thought we had a pianist, not a music player.”

Barb shakes her head, combing slowly through Jon’s hair. He’d never admit it, but it’s kind of soothing. “Well, there’s music playing to keep everyone entertained as they sit down, the rest of the wedding party is ready to go, and I think Kerry is doing the same thing for Miles that I’m doing right now.”

“Combing his hair?”

She rolls her eyes. “Calming him down.”

Jon frowns as he finishes with his tie. It looks a hell of a lot better now. “Why is he nervous?”

“Why are you?” Barb counters, switching to the other side of Jon’s hair. “You know what you’re doing, right?”

“Getting married,” Jon answers. It sends his heart rate back through the roof, but it’s a lot more pleasant this time around. It’s  _ exciting. _ “You look good.”

“You helped me pick my dress. And my hairstyle.”

“Yeah, but you still look good,” he says, because she does. He and Miles had taken a while to agree on wedding colors, but after a lot of back-and-forth Miles had landed on dark red, and Jon found a shade of light blue that went with it, and they made it work. Barb’s dress matches Jon’s tie, and the flowers in her hair are dark red with frosted blue edges. She looks almost ethereal. Way prettier than him, in any case.

Barb just smiles. “The graphic designer has a pretty wedding, huh?” she says teasingly. “Who would’ve guessed?”

“Not me, when we picked the colors,” Jon mutters. Barb pulls the comb away from his head, and he glances in the mirror. He looks stunningly put-together in his tux, and even if he’s radiating nervous energy he’s still in one piece. “Hey, Barb?”

“What’s up?”

“Thank you for making sure I don’t literally tear my hair out.”

Barb grins. “What are maids of honor for?”

“Bachelor parties,” Jon says. “And calming the groom down.”

“Your bachelor party sucked, though.”

“And whose fault was that?”

There’s a knock on the door, and Chris pokes his head in. “Hi, Jon. You have one minute.”

“One minute?” Jon repeats. “What’s the point of a one minute warning?”

“So you can get anything done you need to in two minutes.” Chris shrugs. “I’m mostly just here to look at your maid of honor. She’s pretty.”

Barb curtsies, exaggerated and overly delicate, but she’s smiling like she means it. “Thank you, Christopher.”

“Of course,” Chris answers, smiling back. “Jon, have you seen Miles yet?”

“Nah,” Jon says. “Not until the ceremony, you know, those are the rules.”

“I thought that only applied to brides,” Barbara says.

Jon shrugs. “Our wedding, our rules. It’s been a minute by now, right?”

“It has,” Chris says. “Are you ready?”

“I think so,” Jon says. He gives himself one last look in the mirror and smiles at his reflection. He looks happy, even if a little pale and nervous. He has never wanted anything more than this.

“I’m getting married,” he says, just for the novelty of it.

Barb laughs. “Yeah, it’s time to go and do that.” She offers him her arm, and Jon settles his hand in the crook of her elbow. “Let’s roll.”

“Let’s roll,” Jon echoes.

“We’re rolling,” Chris says, and leads the way out.

.

Jon’s hands were shaking when he proposed.

He was at the point where almost everyone knew that he was planning on it. The design department wheedled it out of him at drinks night, he’d asked Barb and Kerry and Kyle for advice, and Meg found the ring by accident when she was over for dinner one night. That last incident had led Jon to almost bury it in his desk at school and leave it there until he was ready, and more importantly until he thought Miles would be ready.

They’d talked around it, if not about it. Any thoughts of the future were mostly formless beyond “we’ll be together,” and while some days that was enough, Jon was slowly coming to realize that he wanted something concrete. They’d talked about weddings a little bit, after Burnie and Ashley had gotten married, and he knew that Miles was open to it. More than that, Miles knew that Jon wanted to be married one day and he was okay with that.

And it wasn’t that Jon didn’t think that they’d be together without the rings. He knew they were both thinking about the future in terms of “we” rather than “I,” and that wouldn’t change if they never got married. But something about the symbol, about proclaiming to the world that they were together and they wanted it to be permanent, that meant something to Jon. Till death do us part wasn’t as scary when it was with Miles.

So he bought the ring, and he hid the ring, and he panicked about the ring for two months before he did anything with it.

(The tipping point was when Chris came back for a visit and, after meeting Jon for dinner, said “I can’t believe you haven’t proposed yet.”

“You don’t even  _ live _ here anymore,” Jon said, aghast. “How do you know anything about that?”

“Well, Barb,” Chris admitted, “but mostly I just know you. You’re in love and you’re happy, and you always planned on getting married, even before you were dating him.”

“When did I tell you that?”

“New Year’s, three years ago. There was some scotch involved.”

Jon sighed. “I don’t know what to do to make it special. I asked Kerry, I asked Kyle-”

“Jon,” Chris said. “You’re marrying him, or at least you want to. You know him pretty well by now. You can propose on your own.”)

It took another week to figure out how exactly he wanted to do it. He didn’t want to do it in public, and he didn’t just want to pop up and say “hey, let’s get married” on any old day, so he did what he did best when he was nervous.

“Lasagna?” Miles said as soon as he got home. “Did I forget an anniversary? Is something important happening?”

“It’s a lasagna kind of day,” Jon said, which was technically not a lie, it was just not answering Miles’s question. He glanced over his shoulder, pausing in tomato-chopping in the process. “Come help me make it, come on.”

“Can Ginger help?”

“How would she help?”

Miles walked into the kitchen, Ginger bundled up in his arms. “Moral support!”

Jon set down his knife and bent down to make eye contact with Ginger. “You wanna cheer us on as we cook?”

Ginger didn’t answer, so Jon looked up to Miles instead. “Are you sure she’s good moral support?”

“She cares about us,” Miles said determinedly. “She’s going to keep us positive. Also, hi, honey, I’m home.”

Jon smiled and leaned up to kiss Miles hello. The ring felt heavier in his pocket, but there wasn’t time to worry about that. Now he just wanted to cook dinner with his boyfriend. “You wanna make sauce or do the cheese?”

“I’ll do sauce.” Miles lowered Ginger to the floor. “Do I have to wash my hands?”

“Do you want dog hair lasagna?”

“Jon, everything we’ve eaten for the last five months has had dog hair in it. It’s just a part of life at this point.”

“That doesn’t mean we’re going to be the ones to put it there, Miles.” Jon gave him the most severe look he could manage, and Miles sighed and headed for the sink.

Lasagna making was normally reserved for date nights and special occasions, but Jon loved it because it gave them the chance to just catch up as they cooked. Miles talked about students and editing his anthology, and Jon talked about the early stages of the grad program for art students, and Ginger wandered around and bumped her nose against their calves, which was technically moral support, Jon supposed. And it was good, and Jon could almost forget the ring in his pocket and why it was hard to breathe in some moments.

It took until the lasagna was in the oven for him to finally break, and even then, it wasn’t entirely planned. All it took was Miles giving him a sidelong look and saying “Okay, seriously, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re making lasagna, and you look.” Miles frowned. “Nervous, kind of, but also excited. If there’s something you want to say, you can just say it.”

Jon could feel his heart hammering inside his chest, and for a split second he considered trying to brush it off. But Miles would know, and honestly, it was a pretty good opening.

“Okay,” Jon said, and took a step closer. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Miles answered, giving him a crooked smile. “What are you doing?”

“Trying my best,” Jon said, slipping a hand into his pocket. “But I love you, and I love being here with you, and I love our dog and making lasagna and everything else we do. You’re in every inch of my life at this point and I never want it any other way. I want this to be the rest of our lives.”

“Jon,” Miles murmured, and he knew, he had to know where this was going. “Are you-”

“I am,” Jon said, and carefully dropped down to one knee. He pulled the ring box out and almost dropped it as he fumbled it open, and he realized he was shaking, couldn’t decide if it was excitement or nerves or the sudden certainty that this would go right. “Miles Luna. Will you marry me?”

“Holy fuck,  _ yes, _ ” Miles burst out. “Oh my god, yes, I’ll marry you literally right now, let’s go.”

“I don’t think your family would be happy if we didn’t invite them,” Jon said, but he could feel his face threatening to explode from grinning so widely. “Here, hang on, give me your hand, you need the ring.”

“Do you have a ring?”

“Nah, we can work that out later.” Jon took Miles’s hand in his and put the ring on, and his breath caught at the sight of it. His ring. His boyfriend. “There.”

“Perfect,” Miles said, a choked note to his voice. “You’re perfect.”

Jon got back to his feet, and Miles immediately surged in to kiss him, hands coming up to cup the back of Jon’s head. Jon kissed back, pushed into Miles’s space, wondered if Miles would understand if Jon never let go of him again.

“I love you,” Miles said, breath warm against Jon’s lips. “So fucking much, I want to spend every single moment of my life married to you, how the fuck do we plan a wedding so I can call you my husband as soon as possible?”

“We can work that out later,” Jon answered. “But for now-”

“Yeah, now,” Miles agreed, and kissed Jon again.

.

To: Barb (10:43 PM)   
He said yes

From: Barb (10:44 PM)   
well of course he said yes

From: Barb (10:44 PM)   
WAIT DID YOU PROPOSE

From: Barb (10:45 PM)   
YOU DIDN’T TELL ME YOU WERE DOING IT TONIGHT

From: Barb (10:45 PM)   
JON!!!!!!!!!!!

To: Barb (10:47 PM)   
Barbara please I’m trying to enjoy a night in with my fiance

From: Barb (10:48 PM)   
you FUCKER I’m so proud of you

From: Barb (10:49 PM)   
I expect details tomorrow but for now congratulations <3

From: Barb (10:51 PM)   
Aaron also says congratulations and that he wants to be the flower girl

To: Barb (10:52 PM)   
We’ll figure that out later

From: Barb (10:53 PM)   
<3 <3 <3 <3

.

“You ready?” Gray asks, as soon as Jon is at the altar.

Jon rolls his shoulders back and tries to remind himself that this is exciting, this is something special. “Yep, totally ready, this is gonna be great.”

Gray shoots him a bemused look. “This is your second ceremony and you’re still nervous.”

“The first one didn’t count,” Jon points out. This is their civil ceremony, their actual wedding, but it’d somehow turned out that none of Miles’s extended family could be there on the date they’d chosen. So naturally, they planned an unofficial wedding for family only last month. It’d worked perfectly: they spent the weekend with Miles’s family, being congratulated and celebrated, and it gave them sort of a dry run of what to expect for the wedding. Some of Jon’s family made it out too, and somehow Kerry and Gray showed up, so they even had the best man and the minister.

“It was still a wedding,” Gray says. “I was there.”

“Didn’t count,” Jon repeats. “How did you even know to be there? We didn’t tell you.”

“Kerry’s pretty smart,” Gray says, which is all he ever says about that trip. He and Kerry had shown up with no warning at all, at Miles’s house, holding hands and grinning like assholes. Miles swears up and down he had no idea they were going to show up, so it’s the most infuriating mystery of all.

But now, Jon just smiles. “Pretty smart, huh? You guys are cute.”

Gray shakes his head. “I’m performing your wedding, don’t tease me.”

“I’m not teasing anyone,” Jon says, but he decides he probably should back off. Both he and Miles had agreed that there was no real point to a religious ceremony when neither of them were religious, and Gray was already ordained from a couple of other weddings he’d done. They figured it’d mean more to have him there, a friend with all their other friends, than some stranger talking about God. “Time to start?”

“Time to start,” Gray affirms, and turns to Matt, sitting at the piano. “You ready?”

“I’ve played, like, seven different wedding marches before,” Matt scoffs. “I’m ready.”

Matt’s eighth wedding march is a little clumsy, and it’s not perfect, but he’d warned Jon about that already. It was another case of sentiment rather than perfection. Matt plays like he’s enthusiastic, and really, he’d rather have one of his students play his procession than anyone else.

The wedding party is as small as they could make it, with a grand total of four people. The first ones down the aisle are Chris and Kyle, arm in arm. When they make it to the altar, Chris claps Jon on the shoulder on his way to stand behind Jon. Kyle just winks at Jon, and Jon grins back at him. Jon hasn’t seen Kyle in weeks, mostly because his work schedule is batshit ridiculous. His flight only landed a handful of hours before the wedding, but Miles had been goddamn delighted to have him here, and Jon is glad he could make it.

Barb and Kerry are next, as maid of honor and best man. Kerry has a flower in his lapel to match the ones braided into Barb’s hair, and they’re both beaming at Jon. Kerry offers him a fist-bump and goes to stand next to Kyle. Barb kisses him on his cheek and whispers, “Congratulations, Risemonger.”

“Wouldn’t be here without you,” Jon says, because it’s true. Barb has kicked his ass into gear more times than he can count, and she was his first and only choice for maid of honor.

Barb’s smile goes soft. “Yeah, you would. But I’m glad to be here with you.” And with that she takes her place beside him, and Jon looks back down the aisle for the most important part of the wedding.

When Miles steps into the aisle, Jon’s breath catches. Miles had worn his wedding tux to their family wedding, but this time he swapped out the white shirt underneath for dark red, and he’s smiling so hard that Jon’s heart aches at the sight of it. He forgets sometimes, how consumingly and breathtakingly in love he is with this man, but now it’s all he can think about.

Miles’s eyes light up as he sees Jon, and Jon can feel his throat closing up. He can’t do anything but watch, transfixed, as Miles slowly walks down the aisle towards him, beaming the whole way.

As soon as he’s at the altar, Miles ducks down and catches Jon’s chin with one hand. “You’re fucking beautiful,” he says, full of emotion, and leans in to press a kiss to Jon’s forehead.

“I love you,” Jon answers, because it’s all he can think to say. Miles gives him a sun-bright smile and settles into his place across from Jon. Matt finishes with the wedding march and turns around to watch them, and Jon takes a deep breath. Months and months of planning, over four years of knowing each other, and here they are.

“Dearly beloved,” Gray begins. “We are gathered here today to celebrate Miles and Jon as they join together in marriage. They have decided to commit to each other, before your eyes and mine, and we are here to celebrate that commitment. More than that, we are here to celebrate their love.

“Love is more than just a word. Love is what you do. Love is in the way these two look at each other, and their choice to have this ceremony here today. We are all here today to witness this love, and to honor their commitment, and most importantly to celebrate what they have. Jon, Miles.” Gray smiles at them. “Your love for one another is, in a word, inspiring. I know you already know what it takes to make a relationship work, but let me remind everyone else.”

“Oh, please do,” Miles says, although his eyes are still fixed on Jon.

“Yeah, say things about how great we are,” Jon adds, just to see Miles’s eyes crinkle up at the corners.

“With pleasure,” Gray says. “A marriage is a commitment to a relationship, and it is not a commitment to be made lightly. This is a commitment of time, of energy, a commitment to share in each other’s space and lives. Most importantly, this is a commitment to another person, to their happiness, and to their soul. I’m assuming you both understand this.”

“I do,” Miles says immediately.

Jon raises his eyebrows. “I think you’re jumping the gun a little bit there.”

“Nah, we wrote our own vows, we don’t get to say it later, so I’m going to say it now.” He grins. “I do. Your turn.”

“I do,” Jon says, and his heart clenches.

“They didn’t do this in the rehearsal,” Gray mutters, earning a smattering of laughter from the audience. “But you make a good point. The couple wrote their own vows today, and it is time for them to exchange those vows. Miles, I understand you wanted to go first?”

Miles nods, bouncing on the balls of his feet, and takes a deep breath. “Jon,” he says, and Jon feels warm already _ , _ head to toe. “I have had a lot of happy moments in my life. I’ve had a lot of good things happen. And lately you’ve been there for all the good things. You  _ are _ one of the good things. The best thing, probably.”

He reaches out and takes one of Jon’s hands in his, and Jon curls his fingers into Miles’s palm, trying to remember to breathe.

Miles must understand somehow because he squeezes Jon’s hand. “I promise that I will do everything I can to give you all the good things in the world. I promise that I’m going to be here to get rid of the bad things, and to stand with you when you need it. I promise I’m going to do everything I can to make you a fraction as happy as you’ve made me, because you deserve all that and more.”

Jon’s chest is tight and he thinks, half-hysterically, about slapping this man in the face four years ago by sheer accident, about the absolute wonder in Miles’s face the first time Jon said “I love you,” about being here and now and together.

Gray turns to him. “Jon. Your vows?”

Jon swallows once, twice, finds his voice. “You have always made me feel loved,” he says, and it’s not part of his vows but it’s important to say. He can tell he hit the mark by the way Miles’s sucks in a sharp breath. He has to take a second to collect himself before he can continue. “When you go through your life you meet people and some of those people matter, and I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone who matters as much as you do. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me.”

Miles lifts his free hand and wipes at his eyes, and Jon can’t stop himself from smiling, can’t stop the tears welling up in his own eyes. “I will be with you when you need me. Sickness, health, richer, poorer, summer break, finals week. I’ll be there.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Miles answers, voice cracking. Jon leans up without a second thought and wipes away the tear at the corner of Miles’s eye. “God, I love you so much.”

“I love you,” Jon answers easily. He feels giddy, he feels like floating, he feels like he’s in a whole new dimension.

“We’re getting married!” Miles says, and Jon can’t help but laugh. Miles looks out at all their friends, sitting around them, and points at Jon, eyes sparkling. “I’m marrying him!”

“That’s kind of why we’re here,” Jon points out. “It’s a wedding, those were our vows, next are the rings.”

“Thank you for that wonderful transition,” Gray says dryly. “Do you have the rings?”

“We don’t.” Jon glances at the front row of seats, and Meg jumps to her feet. “You got ‘em?”

“We got ‘em,” Meg announces, and tugs on the leash. “C’mon, Ginger, let’s go get your dads married.”

Ginger barks and starts toward them, towing Meg along with her. Miles stoops down as they get to the altar and pets her head. “Aww, there’s a good girl, there’s my favorite ring bearer.”

Meg clears her throat loudly. Miles ignores her.

“Miles,” Jon says, grinning. “Wedding.”

“I’m getting there, Jon, hang on.” He picks up the pillow, carefully situated on Ginger’s back with their two rings resting on it, and hands it to Gray. “Thanks, Ginger. And Meg, I guess.”

Meg just laughs and leads Ginger back to their seats. Gray looks down at the rings. “Okay, who’s going first?”

“Isn’t that your job to know?” Jon asks, before he can stop himself. Miles laughs out loud at that. “I mean. Sorry, but come on.”

“No, you’re right, we’ve been over this already.” Gray shakes his head and looks out at everyone seated there. “I apologize for interrupting the flow, we’ll get back into the swing of things now. I’m going to assume nobody objects to this union, and there’s no good reason to, so we’ll skip over that part to exchange the rings. Miles, will you take this ring, place it on Jon’s finger, and repeat after me?”

Miles takes the ring, pauses, and adjusts Jon’s hand in his own. Jon’s heartbeat picks up speed. This is it and it has never felt so real or beautiful before.

“With this ring, I marry you.”

“Jon Risinger,” Miles says, “with this ring, I marry you.”

“I give you my heart.”

“I give you my heart.”

“And the rest of my days.”

Miles slides the ring onto Jon’s finger, beaming like the sun. “And the rest of my days.” He squeezes Jon’s hand and lets go, carefully, and Jon can’t fucking breathe for a few seconds.

“Jon,” Gray says. “Will you take this ring and repeat after me?”

Jon takes the ring from Gray and picks up Miles’s left hand. It’s strange wearing a ring, he thinks. It’s a little heavier, still cool on his skin, still strange to see such a solid reminder of how much he loves Miles. Symbols will do where words can’t, and there are no words for this.

“With this ring, I marry you,” Gray says.

Jon meets Miles’s eyes and says, as clearly as possible, “Miles, with this ring, I marry you.”

“I give you my heart.”

“I give you my heart,” Jon repeats, even though Miles has had his heart for a very long time.

“And the rest of my days.”

“And the rest of my days.” He slides the ring onto Miles’s finger and lifts his hand to kiss his knuckles, just because he can. Miles makes a choked-off noise that might be a sob, might just be elation. Jon knows how he feels.

“I now pronounce you married,” Gray says. Jon can hear the smile in his voice, but he doesn’t bother turning his head. He only has eyes for Miles. “And you may seal your union with a kiss.”

Jon goes to lean up towards Miles, but before he can rise up onto his toes, there’s a hand at the small of his back and he realizes he’s tipping backwards. He throws his arms around Miles’s neck and lets his fiancé - his  _ husband _ \- dip him.

“Hi, gorgeous,” Miles whispers, eyes sparkling, and Jon thinks,  _ this is mine now. _

“Hi, husband,” Jon says, and Miles kisses him like it’s the easiest thing he’s done in his life. He’s dimly aware of Gray making some jokes, of his closing remarks, of someone wolf-whistling in the background, but it all fades away to this, and this, and this.

.

To: risinger@univ.edu   
From: gavin@gavinofreephotography.com   
Subj: raw photos   
Attachment: risemonger ceremony.zip

figured since you’re a photo type you might want the raw ones. I’ll still be doing edits on some of the better ones, since that’s what you hired me for, but if you want to do them to you’re welcome to. cheers, risemonger

.

“All right, fuckers, time for a toast,” Kerry announces, climbing to his feet. Barbara stands up next to him. “Everyone up, come on, we’re going to toast them standing up if we can.”

“Oh, god,” Miles whispers in mock-horror. “They’re going to talk about us.”

Jon leans a little more comfortably against Miles’s shoulder. “Everyone here already knows us, babe.”

“Yeah, but they know us best of all.”

“Hey,” Barb says, looking offended. “Quit talking while we’re trying to talk and let us toast you.”

“At the same time?”

“Nah, I’m going first,” Kerry says, looking out around the tables of guests. “So, uh, if you guys don’t know me, I’m Kerry, and I’ve known Miles for-”

“Don’t finish that,” Miles calls out.

Kerry rolls his eyes. “For a while,” he finishes. “He’s probably the best friend I’ve ever had, so you know, when he starts getting all gushy about some guy I wanted to be absolutely sure it was going to work out, because that’s what best friends do.” He looks at Jon and smiles, and Jon grins back without really thinking about it. Kerry’s smile widens. “This worked out better than I could’ve imagined. Here’s to you guys.” He raises his glass, and all of their guests raise their glasses too. Miles leans over and kisses Jon, earning them a couple of cheers.

“Okay, my turn!” Barb says, and Jon pulls away to look at her. “Oh, come on, you’ll have time to kiss each other later, I’ve got nice things to say about you both.”

“Nice things,” Jon repeats, half-skeptical.

Barb ignores him. “Hi everyone, I’m Barbara, and I met Jon through his old roommate Chris. I knew him before he worked at the university, which is more than almost everyone here can say.”

“I can say it,” Chris mumbles from next to her.

Barb pats his shoulder absently and forges on. “Over the last few years Jon has been easily one of my favorite people to be around. He’s one of those people who you just want the best for, no matter what, and I think he found that best. Miles made him happier than I’d ever seen him before, and that’s still true today.” She looks over at them, utterly fond. “Here’s to Jon and Miles, everyone. May you always be happy together.”

Everyone in the audience lifts their glasses and takes another drink. From Miles’s feet, Ginger barks a couple of times. Jon smiles. “Thanks, Barb. And Kerry too.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Barb says, but she’s smiling too.

“Congratulations, guys,” Kerry adds. “Really. You deserve this.”

“We do, don’t we?” Miles says, looking at Jon. “We deserve this.”

.

The first time Jon met Miles, he slapped him in the face. The second time he was exceedingly careful not to make that mistake. It would’ve been harder, anyways, because Miles was standing at the door to Jon’s office, and Jon was in his chair.

“Hey, Jon,” Miles said instead of knocking.

Jon spun around in his chair. “Hey. Miles, right?”

“What, I didn’t make enough of a mark on you for you to remember me?” Miles tapped his cheek, grinning. “I mean, you definitely made a mark on me.”

Jon buried his face in his hands as quickly as he could. “Right, yeah, I’m so sorry about that-”

“Don’t even worry about it, man, getting slapped is like a life experience and I’m glad I got it.”

“Yeah, sure.” Jon peeked between his fingers. “What’s up?”

Miles shrugged. “Do, uh. You wanna go to lunch?”

“Lunch?”

“Yeah, you know, I’ve been staring at the gradebook so long that I can’t feel my eyes anymore and I haven’t eaten since this morning. And I figured, I need a lunch buddy, but all of my usual guys are still staring at their computers.”

“I’m also staring at my computer,” Jon pointed out, but he hadn’t eaten since the morning either, and he could use a break. “Where do you wanna go?”

Miles’s face lit up. “Oh, man, I know this Italian place a couple blocks away, it’s totally worth the walk if you’ve got the time for it, you’re gonna love it.”

Jon smiled. If Miles was thinking of the same place that he was, they even had gluten-free things, which was a pretty damn important part of any restaurant. “Sure. Let’s go.”

“I’m paying,” Miles added quickly. Jon frowned, ready to argue, but Miles steamrolled right over him. “Don’t complain, I’m asking you so I pay, that’s how it works.”

“I’ll pay if we go again,” Jon said, because he wouldn’t turn down free food, but he also wasn’t an asshole.

“Sure, yeah, of course,” Miles promised.

It was over two months before he let Jon pay. Chivalrous to a fucking fault, that one.

.

After their first dance (to a Barry White song that Miles picked out) and cutting the cake (Jon shoved a slice of German chocolate into Miles’s face and helped him clean up afterwards) and half a dozen people clinking spoons against glasses to get them to kiss, the wedding becomes an endless line of congratulations. Jon doesn’t know what he expected, but he doesn’t mind too much. It’s an excuse to see everyone there

“You had a wonderful ceremony,” Ashley says sincerely when she comes up, Burnie’s arm looped around her waist.

“Way shorter than ours,” Burnie adds. “Good call on that.”

“Nailed it,” Miles says. Jon laughs. “Thank you guys, though. And thanks for the flower advice.”

“I didn’t give flower advice,” Burnie says.

Ashley shrugs. “One of us had to. We’ll see you guys later, okay?”

“Bye, Ashley,” Jon says, and she drags Burnie out to the dance floor. He doesn’t have time to ask Miles about the flower advice that he has no memory of, because a tiny huddle of twenty-somethings appears in the space that Burnie and Ashley left behind. “Hey, you all made it!”

“Except Ben,” Trevor says, mock-solemn. “We miss him. In loving memory.”

“Fuck off,” Ben says from the FaceTime window on Maggie’s phone. “Not even an ocean can keep me away. Congratulations, Professor.”

“Yeah, congratulations,” Jeremy adds. “And thank you for inviting us.”

“I think you’re a plus-one, actually,” Maggie points out. “But thank you for inviting some of us.”

Jon laughs. “Some of you are indirectly responsible for this wedding, we figured the least we could do was invite you. And speaking of plus-ones, hi, Cole.”

“Hi, Jon,” Cole says cheerfully. “I’m here because Maggie loves me more than you do.”

“Yeah, no shit, I do.” Maggie rolls her eyes. “My girlfriend’s out of town for a work thing, or else I would’ve brought her, but she says congratulations too.”

“And thanks for hiring me,” Matt says. “You know, for the piano and all that. Even if I’m not the greatest-”

“Oh, bullshit, you’re better than me and that’s my only standard,” Miles says. “All of you, seriously, thanks for coming, it’s really cool to see you all again after you graduated.”

“Yeah, it’s good to see you,” Jon adds. “You’re all welcome to email me any time if you ever want to get coffee or something.”

“Oh, I will,” Trevor says.

Maggie laughs. “We’ll let you know. Come on, guys, we’re going dancing.”

“I’m a great dancer,” Cole says, with the confidence of someone who is an absolutely terrible dancer.

“I’m not dancing,” Matt adds. Maggie gives him a vicious look that Jon assumes means that Matt is going to be dancing, whether he likes it or not.

“We’ll see you, Professor Risinger,” Trevor says, and leads the group out.

Jon glances at Miles. “The kids are all right, huh?”

“They certainly are.” Miles smiles, half-fond. “That was a good idea to invite them.”

Jon opens his mouth to agree, but before he can someone else wanders over, and it’s not someone he recognizes this time. The guy smiles at him, looking friendly, before turning to Miles. “Hey, man.”

“Oh, dude!” Miles jumps up from his seat for the first time in a couple of hours to fold the guy into a hug. “I’m glad you could make it, thanks for coming out.”

“I’m glad I could be here,” the guy says warmly.

Miles detaches himself from the guy and claps him on the shoulder. “Jon, this is Matt Peake, my college roommate with the good fuckin’ chicken recipe.”

Jon leans forward to shake his hand. “Hey, nice to meet you, and thanks for the recipe.”

Matt looks almost embarrassed. “I didn’t realize you actually made it.”

“Oh, we’ve made it,” Miles laughs, plopping back down next to Jon and slinging an arm around his shoulders. “It’s still good, but you made it best of all.”

“Yeah, sure.” Matt stuffs his hands in his pockets and smiles. “I’m only in town for a little while, and I’ve got some other friends to visit while I’m here-”

“Oh, yeah, go on ahead,” Miles says quickly, and turns to Jon. “He’s a news editor for a couple of statewide channels, he knows basically everyone at the local station. He’s fucking cool.”

Matt doesn’t really roll his eyes, but Jon gets an eye-roll vibe from him anyways. “That reminds me,” he says, and digs into his jacket pocket to pull out a card. “From everyone at the studio. Congratulations, you guys. It was nice meeting you, Jon.”

Jon takes the card and settles back against Miles. “You too. Take care.”

Matt smiles and heads off, and Jon glances at Miles. “Wouldn’t have pegged him as your type of friend.”

“The world works in mysterious ways,” Miles intones, but he looks fond. “We were randomly assigned roommates, but he’s a cool guy. I like him.”

Jon hums and leans against Miles’s shoulder. “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“We’re married now.”

“I know, isn’t it cool?”

“The coolest,” Jon says, and waits for the next person to stop by.

.

To: risinger@univ.edu   
From: gavin@gavinofreephotography.com   
Subj: raw photos (again)   
Attachment: risemonger reception.zip, risemonger reception 2.zip, risemonger reception 3.zip

took a lot of photos, just in case. same as the last one. if you like any ones more than the others let me know so I can focus on those.

.

To: gavin@gavinofreephotography.com   
From: risinger@univ.edu   
Subj: Re: raw photos (again)

You’re damn good at your job, you know that? Thanks for the photos, I’ll get back to you about that later.

.

“So what now?” Miles asks. They’re approaching eight hours of marriage and Jon is still waiting for the buzz to wear off. Or maybe that’s champagne. Who knows.

Jon shifts where he’s lying in bed next to Miles. “We leave for our honeymoon tomorrow.”

“Well, yeah, but that’s tomorrow.”

“What do you want to do tonight?”

Miles shakes his head. “No, I mean. Do we buy a house? Do we join our bank accounts, or something? What do we do next?”

“We’ll figure it out later.” Jon smiles at him, and he can see Miles relax. “We’re gonna keep going until we get there, and then we’ll find somewhere else to go.”

“I like the sound of that,” Miles admits.

“But for now-” Jon pushes himself upright so he’s leaning over Miles, his husband, the man he owns a dog with, the love of his fucking life - “we don’t have to worry about a damn thing.”

“Oh, really?” Miles grins up at him. “Why’s that?”

“Because we’re together,” Jon says. And one day they will have to think about houses and joint accounts, one day they’ll talk about another dog or even having kids, one day they’ll have a future together. But that’s going to be the future. This is the present, and as he leans down to kiss Miles soundly, there’s nowhere else worth being.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing this series for the last six months has been a joy. This is partly because I like writing and partly because I managed to find the best audience on the planet. You guys have been nothing short of incredible. Thank you.
> 
> As happens sometimes, I have some [extended author's notes](http://elysewillcms.tumblr.com/private/143568636152/tumblr_o69ye3svqU1rv5uzi) on Tumblr, going into more depth about ending the series and what more you can expect from me. But this is the end. I hope you all enjoyed it.
> 
> One last time, if you ever want to see what I'm up to, the quickest ways to do that are [Tumblr](http://elysewillcms.tumblr.com) and [Twitter.](http://twitter.com/ezrabridgers) Again, thank you for everything, and I'll see you next fic. <3
> 
> Update 7/4/16: the response to this series has been overwhelming and I love you guys so much. There is now a 15th fic in the series (and there could one day be even more) - any fics published from here on out are side-stories and codas, not at all necessary to the main story, but if you want to live in this world for a while longer, by all means, check them out. Thanks for reading the series!


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